Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-21T00:15:53.469Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Congenital Deformities and the Olmec Were-Jaguar Motif

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Carson N. Murdy
Carson N. Murdy*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Although previous studies of Olmec iconography have correctly recognized the importance of the jaguar element and its conceptual origins in the shaman-jaguar transformation complex of beliefs, they have not explained why the Olmec expression of feline features should be different from their expression in other prehistoric American art styles sharing origins in the same complex of beliefs, nor why the Olmec chose to express them in the form of an infant were-jaguar, often held in the arms of a seated adult male. It is here suggested that the majority of the attributes of the were-jaguar motif can best be explained by analogy with the congenital deformities manifested in and associated with multifactorial neural tube defects. The apparent fusion of the portrayal of these defects with the portrayal of feline elements suggests that the art style and religious beliefs were being manipulated for political reasons, which would be most likely in a chiefdom form of sociopolitical organization. Reasons for stylistic variation in the portrayal of the were-jaguar and its widespread distribution are discussed.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 46 , Issue 4 , October 1981 , pp. 861 - 871
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Bernal, I. 1968 El mundo Olmeca. Editorial Porrua, México.Google Scholar
Campbell, L., and Kaufman, T. 1976 A linguistic look at the Olmecs. American Antiquity 41:80-89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chovnic, S. D. 1971 Anterior sacral meningoceles as a cause of urinary retention. Journal of Urology 106:371.Google Scholar
Coe, M. D. 1962 Mexico. Praeger, New York.Google Scholar
Coe, M. D. 1965 Archaeological synthesis of southern Veracruz and Tabasco. Handbook of Middle American Indians 3:679-715. University of Texas Press, Austin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coe, M. D. 1965 1968a San Lorenzo and the Olmec civilization. In Dumbarton Oaks conference on the Olmec, edited by Benson, E. P., pp. 41-78. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Coe, M. D. 1965 1968b America's first civilization: discovering the Olmec. American Heritage, New York.Google Scholar
Coe, M. D. 1972 Olmec jaguars and Olmec kings. In The cult of the feline, edited by Benson, E. P., pp. 1-12. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Coe, M. D. 1973 The iconology of Olmec art. In The iconography of Middle American sculpture, pp. 1-12. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.Google Scholar
Cohen, P. 1974 Myelomeningocele—part IV: general considerations. Western Journal of Medicine 121: 300-304.Google Scholar
Comas, J. 1945 Osteométrica olmeca: informe preliminar sobre los restos hallados en Cerro de las Mesas, Estado de Veracruz, México. Institute de Etnografia Americana, Universidad de Cuyo, Anales VI:169-208. Mendoza, Argentina.Google Scholar
Covarrubias, M. 1942 Origen y desarrollo del estilo artístico “Olmeca.” In Mayas y Olmecas, pp. 46-49. Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología, México.Google Scholar
Covarrubias, M. 1946 El arte olmeca o de la Venta. Cuadernos Americanos 5:153-179.Google Scholar
Das, P. B., Tata, H. R., and Patil, A. R. 1976 Meningomyelocele lateralis. International Surgery 61:239.Google Scholar
Davalos Hurtado, E.. and Ortiz de Zarate, J. M. 1953 La plástica indígena y la patología. In Huastecos, Totonacos y sus vecinos, edited by Bernal, I. y E. Dávalos Hurtado, pp. 95-104. Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología, México.Google Scholar
Davis, W. 1978 So-called jaguar-human copulation scenes in Olmec art. American Antiquity 43:453-457.Google Scholar
De Meyer, W. 1967 The median cleft face syndrome: differential diagnosis of cranium bifidum occultum, hypertelorism, and median cleft nose, lip and palate. Neurology 17:961-971. Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Drucker, P. 1943 Ceramic stratigraphy of Cerro de las Mesas, Veracruz, Mexico. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 141. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Drucker, P. 1952 La Venta, Tabasco: a study of Olmec ceramics and art. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 153. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Dunn, D. K. 1975 A higher powered view of the myelomeningocele defect. Wisconsin Medical Journal 74(2): 17-20.Google ScholarPubMed
Flannery, K. V. 1968 The Olmec and the Valley of Oaxaca: a model for interregional interaction in Formative times. In Dumbarton Oaks conference on the Olmec, edited by Benson, E. P., pp. 79-110. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Furst, P. T. 1967 Huichol conceptions of the soul. Folklore Americas 27:39-106.Google Scholar
Furst, P. T. 1968 The Olmec were-jaguar motif in the light of ethnographic reality. In Dumbarton Oaks con/erence on the Olmec, edited by Benson, E. P., pp. 143-174. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Furst, P. T. 1972 Comment. In The cult of the feline, edited by Benson, E. P., p. 67. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Gardner, W. J. 1965 Hydrodynamic mechanism of syringomyelia: its relationship to myelocele. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 28:247-259. Ojeman, pp. 57-59. Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, Md.Google Scholar
Golbus, M. S. 1975 Myelomeningocele. Western Journal of Medicine 122(2): 175.Google Scholar
Grove, D. C. 1974 The highland Olmec manifestation: a consideration of what it is and isn't. In Mesoamerican archaeology, edited by Hammond, N., pp. 109-128. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Heizer, R. F. 1976 La Venta: a cradle of Mesoamerican civilization. Bulletin Texas Archaeological Society 47:1-23.Google Scholar
Holmes, L. B., Driscoll, S. G., and Atkins, L. 1976 Etiologic heterogeneity of neural-tube defects. New England Journal of Medicine 294:365-369.Google Scholar
Joralemon, P. D. 1971 A study of Olmec iconography. Dumbarton Oaks Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology 7. Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Joralemon, P. D. 1976 The Olmec dragon: a study in Pre-Columbian iconography. In Origins of religious art and iconography in Preclassic Mesoamerica, edited by Nicholson, H. B., pp. 27-71. University of California, Berkeley and Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Maciejewski, A. 1972 Anterior meningoceles presenting as abdominal swellings. Journal of Pediatric Surgery 7:48.Google Scholar
Medellin Zénil, A. 1960 Monolitos inéditos olmecas. La Palabra y el Hombre, flevista de la Universidad Veracruzana 16: 75-98.Google Scholar
Melgar, Jose M. 1869 Antigüedades mexicanas, notable escultura antigua. Boletín de la Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística, época 2, vol. 1:292-297.Google Scholar
Netting, R. McC. 1972 Sacred power and centralization: aspects of political adaptation in Africa. In Population growth, edited by Spooner, B., pp. 219-244. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Peebles, C. S.. and Kus, S. M. 1977 Some archaeological correlates of ranked societies. American Antiquity 42:421-448.Google Scholar
Reichel-Dolmatoff, G. 1972a The feline motif in prehistoric San Agustin. In The cult of the feline, edited by Benson, E. P., pp. 51-64. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Reichel-Dolmatoff, G. 1972b San Agustfn, a culture of Colombia. Praeger, New York.Google Scholar
Seville, M. H. 1900 A votive adze of jadeite from Mexico. Monumental Records 1:138-140.Google Scholar
Seville, M. H. 1929 Votive axes from ancient Mexico. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, Indian Notes 6:266-299, 335-342.Google Scholar
Service, E. R. 1975 Origins of the state and civilization. Norton, New York.Google Scholar
Shurtleff, D. B., Kronmal, R., and Foltz, E. L. 1975 Follow-up comparison of hydrocephalus with and without myelomeningocele. Journal of Neurosurgery 42:61-68.Google Scholar
Simpson, D. 1976 Congenital malformations of the nervous system. Medical Journal of Australia 1:700-702.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, E. D. 1965 Spina bifida and the total care of spinal myelomeningocele. Charles C Thomas, Springfield, 111.Google Scholar
Stirling, M. W. 1955 Stone monuments of the Rio Chiquito, Veracruz, Mexico. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 157. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Stirling, M. W. 1965 Monumental sculpture of southern Veracruz and Tabasco. In Handbook of Middle American Indians 3:716-738. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Stirling, M. W. 1968 Early history of the Olmec problem. In Dumbarton Oaks conference on the Olmec, edited by Benson, E. P., pp. 1-8. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Vogal, E. H. 1970 Anterior sacral meningocele as a gynecological problem. Surgery in gynecology and obstetrics 136:766.Google Scholar
Watt, R. C. 1976 Ostomies: why, how and where. Nursing Clinics of North America 11(3):393-404.Google Scholar
Weaver, M. P. 1972 The Aztecs, Maya, and their predecessors: the archaeology of Mesoamerica. Seminar Press, New York.Google Scholar
Weisman, A. I. 1965 Grand rounds a thousand years before Columbus. Pfizer Spectrum 13:26-29.Google Scholar
Wicke, C. R. 1971 Olmec: an early art style of Precolumbian Mexico. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Yamamoto, H. 1970 Intra-thoracic meningocele. Japanese Journal of Thoracic Surgery 23:48.Google Scholar